


Any Change in Time

by Onceyourempire



Series: Reverse AU [3]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Shotgunning, reverse au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 14:32:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8536810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onceyourempire/pseuds/Onceyourempire
Summary: {Reverse AU -- Blackwatch Era McCree and Game Era McCree are switched in time}Gabe doesn't deserve Jesse McCree, in this timeline nor any other.But he'll take him. He'll take whatever he can get.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I’m picking at three different fics and gearing up for mcreyes week but man its been a shit week and i just wanted something nice and simple and sweet. Reverse au, surprisingly, has become my go-to for anything involving emotion, anything warm and deep and true that settles in your bones. Started as a pwp au. Nice.
> 
> EDIT: this takes place between the first and second chapters of A Place For The End.
> 
> {Title is from The End of All Things, a very good mcreyes song}

+++

They’re sitting on the edge of the roof, passing one of Gabe’s cigarettes back and forth. It’s dangerous, sitting God knows how many feet up from the ground, and if anyone but McCree was next to him they would not be casually dangling their legs over the side. Gabe looks down at the crash of the waves against the rocks, and blows out smoke before passing the cigarette back. He likes the ocean well enough, but he also grew up near it. The parts of LA where he lived up weren’t on the beach or usually even close to it, but you could get there if you had a friend with a car or enough constitution to walk several miles. It’s familiar, unexciting. He’s seen it a million times and he’ll see it a million more. The young Jesse McCree, however, had always been enthralled with it. The lessons about sneaker waves and undertows had eventually set in, but it had never stopped Jesse from wandering down to the rocks at night and camping out for hours. The older man beside him hasn’t lost the fascination, tapping the heel of his boot against the wall as he gazes below them with a smile.

“Don’t take it if you’re just going to let it burn.” Gabe says, and snatches the smoldering cigarette from McCree’s fingers. McCree heaves a sigh and leans back on his hands to look at the cloudy stars instead. Their base isn’t a light show by any means, but it’s no country farm either -- the light pollution is noticeable. It’s better than the Swiss HQ though. At least you can tell there’s stars out here. Gabe pulls the smoke into his mouth again, and lets it billow out from between his lips lazily. He knows the doctors hate his smoking habit, hated it back at the SEP too, but it’s a weird comfort. He flicks the butt twice and pricks of red ash fall out of sight. Another bad habit McCree picked up from him. Hero worship is a powerful thing. McCree takes the cigarette again and actually takes a drag this time. Gabe looks at him.

“You sure do watch me a lot, Gabe.” McCree says, and crushes out the cigarette. He sticks another one in his mouth and winks at Gabe before lighting it. The silver engraved lighter in his hand had been with him when he’d arrived. Gabe had been confused at first, because he had an exact duplicate of it in his pocket. The implications of McCree ending up with his lighter had been yet another worry about the future McCree had trailed into his life. “Not that I mind.”

Gabe huffs a laugh. “You’re still a cocky son of a bitch, McCree.”

“When are you goin’ to call me Jesse? What do I gotta do to earn that?” McCree asks, handing him the newly lit cigarette. “I would have thought suckin’ your dick would be enough.”

Gabe nearly chokes on the inhale but he laughs when he blows the smoke out and looks over his shoulder. No one comes up here when the Commander is smoking, but he didn’t make it to where he is by relying on assumptions. He doesn’t know if anyone knows about him and McCree, but he knows he doesn’t want them to. Unprofessional at best, career-destroying at worst. It’s not a laughing matter, but McCree’s gotten good at finding ways to make it one.

“Careful, McCree.”

“Sure, sure.” McCree accompanies his agreement with a long stretch of his arms above his head and a raising of his eyebrows though, so Gabe doesn’t think he’s being totally serious. Though they’ve only touched in any intimate way outside of sparring once or twice, McCree’s flirting has gotten more intense. He limits the truly outrageous stuff to when they’re out of sight and range of people or cameras, but it’s starting to come out in little things. Half-aborted gestures and touches, standing a little too close, even just leaning in more when Gabe talks. Gabe is frustrated, because McCree isn’t the one who’s going to be left behind with the gossip that’s sure to spread. McCree is also going to be replaced with Jesse when he leaves (or so they hope) and Gabe is dreading it only because of how awkward this situation will make that relationship. 

Gabe looks at the pull of McCree's button up shirt as he stretches, and becomes painfully aware of the fact that McCree is attractive, and attracted to him. McCree is older than him and a little broken up and looking at him with longing, and Gabe think’s he’s probably a shitty person. If he was a better man, he wouldn’t be here, wouldn't let McCree scoot closer so their thighs touch. It feels like he’s taking advantage of McCree’s longstanding affection so he doesn’t feel so isolated at the top of the Blackwatch food chain. He takes a deep drag on the cigarette, and gestures for McCree to lean in, before pressing their mouths together.

Trails of smoke escape from their mouths as Gabe breathes out and McCree breathes in. McCree pulls back and coughs, leaving Gabe to blow the rest of the smoke away. He tangles the hand with the cigarette in McCree's shirt and kisses him. He has to be careful then, sliding the hand around McCree’s waist and not dropping cigarette still between his fingers. McCree puts a hand on each of his thighs. The metal of the left hand is cold enough that Gabe can feel it through his jeans, which means they've been out here longer than he thought. McCree bites at Gabe's lip before opening his mouth and Gabe feels greedy. He wants so many things, complicated little things all bound up in Blackwatch and McCree and saving the world and he’s selfish, and God, he doesn’t even care. Gabe sits back long enough to take another pull off the cigarette and McCree leans in to share the smoke between them. It goes smoother this time, and when McCree groans around a mouthful of smoke it sends heat down Gabe’s spine.

“Fuckin’ killing me, Gabe.” McCree whispers, pressing his thumbs into the seams of the denim covering Gabe’s inner thighs. 

“Good.” Gabe replies, and lifts his other hand to the back of McCree’s neck to bring him in. The cigarette burns down while they press further into each other, only vaguely aware of their precarious position on the ledge.

He wants to take McCree to his bed, Gabe realizes when McCree moves his head down to Gabe’s neck. He wants to bring McCree to his room and eat him out until he’s shaking and wide eyed and panting. He wants to take his time with McCree and open him up and watch him arch his back off the sheets. One of McCree’s hands slide around Gabe's back and he roughly pulls Gabe closer, practically into his lap. He wants McCree to to do the same to him, he thinks, which is alarming. He wants them to stay up here too, for as long as possible, necking like teenagers in their clumsy desperation to touch new skin. McCree presses his face into the swoop where Gabe's neck meets his shoulder. The touch of his lips is gentle, completely different from how they were kissing moments ago, and the softness of it make Gabe tense.

He’s started to see McCree as his equal, and that’s dangerous. He’s let McCree take control before, and that’s scary. He’s accidentally encouraged McCree’s deep affection for him, and that’s cruel. McCree sits up to look him in the eye, rubs circles with his fingertips on Gabe’s back, and Gabe is aware that he’s losing his grip on their whole relationship. If he’s not careful, he’ll end up ass deep in something he can’t get out of. 

Jesse McCree smiles at him, and Gabe thinks that he might as well go all in. Fuck it all. He’s done a hell of a lot for a world that’s done nothing but criticize and push him down. He’s due something good. He deserves to not be alone. He probably doesn’t deserve McCree, in this timeline or any other. There’s no one else lining up to fill the position though, so Gabe grins back and drops the cigarette to the roof before throwing his legs over McCree’s and kissing him. 

“You’re going to be the goddamn death of me, McCree.” He says, later, when they’re sitting a little further apart and McCree’s mouth is a little redder around the end of yet another cigarette. McCree’s laugh is sharp and short, but not harsh.

“Good.” He says, and lays a hand on Gabe’s thigh. Gabe watches the ocean throw itself against the cliff, and McCree gazes at the stars. They smoke. Gabe doesn’t think about his Jesse at all.

+++

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote the authors note before i wrote the fic like a fool and this wasnt really nice or simple at all what the fuck past me


End file.
